Absolute Championship Akhmat Cancels All Foreign Events In 2022

Sanctioned MMA promotion Absolute Championship Akhmat has canceled all of its 2022 international events.

Chechnya political leader Ramzan Kadyrov was issued sanctions by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, OFAC, in 2020 for severe human rights violations. And as the founder of ACA, the fight promotion was one of six companies affiliated with Kadyrov to be hit with the sanctions.

Access to ACA MMA channels was blocked on YouTube in conjunction with all of Kadyrov’s videos and channels being removed from the platform.

ACA planned to host several events around Europe this year including in Poland and Belarus. However, the ACA President, Alexei Yatsenko, decided to keep events in-house.

It is possible that the ongoing conflict in Ukraine has affected the scheduling. In light of restrictions and blocks, visas and international partners would likely be difficult to obtain.

Russia continues to receive sanctions while the war continues in Europe.

A slew of Russian and Belarus sports organizations have been negatively impacted by the war. Both international soccer and the Olympics banned Russian and Belarus sports teams from participating in the organizations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has also been affected by sports sanctions.

Recently, World Taekwondo stripped Putin of his honorary 9th Dan Taekwondo Black Belt. Also, the International Judo Association suspended him as their honorary President and Ambassador.

The Russian mixed martial arts promotion was founded in 2012 and was quickly regarded as Russia’s best fighting promotion.

Their last event, ACA 138, took place on March 26 and featured 5 matches on their main card.

Currently, there is no schedule posted for future events.

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